Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Dave: Hi and welcome to chineseclass101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Chinese.
Echo: 嗨,大家好,我是Echo. (Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) and thanks again for being here with us for this Elementary series, season 2 Lesson.
Dave: And I am Dave. Today is the final podcast in season 2 of our Elementary series.
Echo: And the title of today’s lesson is, don’t forget to pay your Chinese bills.
Dave: In this lesson, you will learn how to pay for your utilities in China.
Echo: And also what happens when you don’t.
Dave: The conversation is between two roommates arguing over who needs to pay the electricity bill.
Echo: Right.
Dave: Okay but before we get to the dialogue, just a reminder if you haven’t already. Go to chineseclass101.com and register for a free lifetime account.
Echo: Right. It will only take you a couple of seconds.
Dave: Okay let’s go on to the dialogue.
DIALOGUE
A:哎呀,停电了!你没买电吗? (āiya, tíngdiànle ! nǐ méi mǎi diàn ma?)
B:这次应该你买吧? (zhècì yīnggāi nǐ mǎi ba?)
A:上次不是我买的吗? (shàng cì bù shì wǒ mǎi de ma?)
B:是我买的。电卡还在我这儿呢! (shì wǒ mǎi de. diàn kǎ hái zài wǒ zhèr ne!)
A:哦,那我现在去银行买吧。 (ò, nà wǒ xiànzài qùyín xíng mǎi ba.)
B:还有水费,煤气费,这次也应该你交。 (hái yǒu shuǐfèi, méiqì fèi, zhècì yě yīnggāi nǐ jiāo.)
Dave: One more time, a bit more slowly.
A:哎呀,停电了!你没买电吗? (āiya, tíngdiànle ! nǐ méi mǎi diàn ma?)
B:这次应该你买吧? (zhècì yīnggāi nǐ mǎi ba?)
A:上次不是我买的吗? (shàng cì bù shì wǒ mǎi de ma?)
B:是我买的。电卡还在我这儿呢! (shì wǒ mǎi de. diàn kǎ hái zài wǒ zhèr ne!)
A:哦,那我现在去银行买吧。 (ò, nà wǒ xiànzài qùyín xíng mǎi ba.)
B:还有水费,煤气费,这次也应该你交。 (hái yǒu shuǐfèi, méiqì fèi, zhècì yě yīnggāi nǐ jiāo.)
Dave: And now with the English translation.
Echo: 哎呀,停电了!你没买电吗? (āiya, tíngdiànle ! nǐ méi mǎi diàn ma?)
Dave: Ah the electricity went out. You didn’t pay the electricity bill.
Echo: 这次应该你买吧? (zhècì yīnggāi nǐ mǎi ba?)
Dave: Isn’t it your turn to pay?
Echo: 上次不是我买的吗? (shàng cì bù shì wǒ mǎi de ma?)
Dave: Didn’t I pay last time?
Echo: 是我买的。电卡还在我这儿呢! (shì wǒ mǎi de. diàn kǎ hái zài wǒ zhèr ne!)
Dave: I paid last time. I still have the electricity card right here.
Echo: 哦,那我现在去银行买吧。 (ò, nà wǒ xiànzài qùyín xíng mǎi ba.)
Dave: Oh then, I will go to the bank right now and pay.
Echo: 还有水费,煤气费,这次也应该你交。 (hái yǒu shuǐfèi, méiqì fèi, zhècì yě yīnggāi nǐ jiāo.)
Dave: Also pay the water bill and the gas bill. It’s your turn to pay for those.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Dave:I remember this happened to me once when all the electricity went out.
Echo: So what did you do?
Dave: Well since it was at night, all the banks were closed so we couldn’t turn the power back on.
Echo: So you had to stay in the dark the whole night?
Dave: Well we went out and bought some candles and that helped until the next day.
Echo: It turns to be a romantic night?
Dave: Well I only had male roommates at that time and none of us had girlfriend. So it wasn’t romantic.
Echo: Okay anyway, today’s vocab is good to know because you never know when you need to pay the electricity bill.
Dave: That’s right. So let’s go to the vocab section now before anyone’s power goes out. And now the vocab section.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 哎呀
Dave: Goodness gracious.
Echo: 停电 (āiya)
Dave: Electrical blackout.
Echo: 次 (cì)
Dave: A point in time.
Echo: 应该 (yīnggāi)
Dave: Should.
Echo: 上次 (shàng cì)
Dave: Last time.
Echo: 下次 (xiàcì)
Dave: Next time.
Echo: 电卡 (diàn kǎ)
Dave: Electricity card.
Echo: 银行 (yínháng)
Dave: Bank.
Echo: 水费 (shuǐfèi)
Dave: Water bill.
Echo: 煤气费 (méiqì fèi)
Dave: Gas bill.
Echo: 煤气费 (méiqì fèi)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Dave: Okay. Let’s take a closer look at usage for some of the words and phrases in this lesson.
Echo: Okay. The first word is 哎呀 (āiya)
Dave: Goodness, goodness gracious.
Echo: 哎呀,我忘了。 (Āiyā, wǒ wàngle.)
Dave: Oh goodness! I forgot.
Echo: 哎呀,我忘了。 (Āiyā, wǒ wàngle.)
Dave: And you might say that because there has been
Echo: 停电。 (Tíngdiàn.)
Dave: An electrical blackout or a loss of power.
Echo: 停电。昨天晚上我家停电了。 (Tíngdiàn. Zuótiān wǎnshàng wǒjiā tíngdiànle.)
Dave: Last night, the power went out in my home.
Echo: 昨天晚上我家停电了。次。 (Zuótiān wǎnshàng wǒjiā tíngdiànle. Cì.)
Dave: A point in time.
Echo: 我去过3次北京。 (Wǒ qùguò 3 cì běijīng.)
Dave: I’ve been to Beijing three times.
Echo: 我去过3次北京。应该。 (Wǒ qùguò 3 cì běijīng. Yīnggāi.)
Dave: Should.
Echo: 应该。你应该说对不起。 (Yīnggāi. Nǐ yīnggāi shuō duìbùqǐ.)
Dave: You should say, I am sorry.
Echo: 你应该说对不起。上次。 (Nǐ yīnggāi shuō duìbùqǐ. Shàng cì.)
Dave: Last time.
Echo: 上次。上次我见你的时候,你还很小。 (Shàng cì. Shàng cì wǒ jiàn nǐ de shíhòu, nǐ hái hěn xiǎo.)
Dave: Last time I saw you, you were still small.
Echo: 上次我见你的时候,你还很小。下次。 (Shàng cì. Shàng cì wǒ jiàn nǐ de shíhòu, nǐ hái hěn xiǎo.)
Dave: Next time.
Echo: 下次。下次我一定给你礼物。 (Xià cì. Xià cì wǒ yīdìng gěi nǐ lǐwù.)
Dave: Next time, I will certainly give you a gift.
Echo:下次我一定给你礼物。电卡。 (Xià cì wǒ yīdìng gěi nǐ lǐwù. Diàn kǎ.)
Dave: Electricity card. This is an electronic card that you can place into your electric meter. You place money on it in a bank…
Echo: Yeah.
Dave: And then use the card to deposit money on the meter in order to buy electricity for your home or office.
Echo: Right 电卡。我的电卡找不到了 (Diàn kǎ. Wǒ de diàn kǎ zhǎo bù dàole)
Dave: I can’t find my electricity card.
Echo: 我的电卡找不到了。 (Wǒ de diàn kǎ zhǎo bù dàole.)
Dave: Now to pay your bills in China, you have to go personally to the
Echo: 银行。 (Yínháng.)
Dave: Bank.
Echo: 银行。银行已经下班了。 (Yínháng. Yínháng yǐjīng xiàbānle.)
Dave: The bank has already closed.
Echo: 银行已经下班了。 (Yínháng yǐjīng xiàbānle.)
Dave: Another bill that you need to pay is.
Echo: 水费。 (shuǐfèi)
Dave: The water bill.
Echo: 水费。这次应该你交水费。 (Shuǐ fèi. Zhè cì yīnggāi nǐ jiāo shuǐ fèi.)
Dave: This time, you should pay the water bill.
Echo: 这次应该你交水费。 (Zhè cì yīnggāi nǐ jiāo shuǐ fèi.)
Dave: And finally, the last bill to pay.
Echo: 煤气费。 (méiqì fèi)
Dave: The gas bill.
Echo: 煤气费。这次的煤气费是多少钱? (Méiqì fèi. Zhè cì de méiqì fèi shì duōshǎo qián?)
Dave: How much is the gas bill this time?
Echo: 这次的煤气费是多少钱? (Zhè cì de méiqì fèi shì duōshǎo qián?)
Dave: Okay. That’s it for the vocabulary section. Let’s go on to grammar.
It’s grammar time.

Lesson focus

Dave: So the grammar focus for today’s lesson is an easy one. What is it Echo?
Echo: 次。 (Cì.)
Dave: This is a verbal measuring word for indicating the frequency of an action.
Echo: Right. We can use this to tell how many times we’ve taken the bus, been to a place or even watch a movie.
Dave: We can also combine this word with three other characters to mean last time.
Echo: 上次。 (Shàng cì.)
Dave: Next time.
Echo: 下次。 (Xià cì.)
Dave: And this time.
Echo: 这次。 (Zhè cì.)
Dave: Right. So there isn’t much to this. We are going to run through some examples.
Echo: Okay. It is important to know that since it’s our time word, we place it at the front of the sentence.
Dave: So in our first example
Echo: 上次不是我买的吗? (Shàng cì bùshì wǒ mǎi de ma?)
Dave: Didn’t I pay last time?
Echo: 上次不是我买的吗? (Shàng cì bùshì wǒ mǎi de ma?)
Dave: We place 上次 (Shàng cì) at the beginning of the question.
Echo: Right.
Dave: Okay what’s our next example?
Echo: 这次是我的错。 (Zhè cì shì wǒ de cuò.)
Dave: This time, it’s my fault.
Echo: 这次是我的错。 (Zhè cì shì wǒ de cuò.)
Dave: It does seem like most of the time, it is my fault. I need to look into that. Okay on to our next sentence.
Echo: 下次,我一定去。 (Xià cì, wǒ yīdìng qù.)
Dave: Next time, I will definitely go.
Echo: 下次,我一定去。 (Xià cì, wǒ yīdìng qù.)
Dave: Okay and our next example is a little bit long. So listen closely.
Echo: 上次他没来,上上次他也没来,这次他来了。 (Shàng cì tā méi lái, shàng shàng cì tā yě méi lái, zhè cì tā láile.)
Dave: Last time, he didn’t come. The time before that, he also didn’t come. This time, he came.
Echo: 上次他没来,上上次他也没来,这次他来了。 (Shàng cì tā méi lái, shàng shàng cì tā yě méi lái, zhè cì tā láile.)
Dave: Notice how we say the time before last time.
Echo: 上上次 (Shàng shàng cì) And by the way, the time after next time should be 下下次。 (Xià xià cì.)
Dave: In both cases, they are simply a repetition of the first word
Echo: 上。 (Shàng.)
Dave: Or
Echo: 下。 (Xià.)
Dave: Okay next example.
Echo: 这次我错了,下次我一定注意。 (Zhè cì wǒ cuòle, xià cì wǒ yīdìng zhùyì.)
Dave: This time I am wrong. Next time, I will be more careful.
Echo: 这次我错了,下次我一定注意。 (Zhè cì wǒ cuòle, xià cì wǒ yīdìng zhùyì.)
Dave: I messed up this time. I will be more careful the next time. Okay and for our final example
Echo: 你下次什么时候休息,下下次呢? (Nǐ xià cì shénme shíhòu xiūxí, xià xià cì ne?)
Dave: When will you rest next and the time after that.
Echo: 你下次什么时候休息,下下次呢? (Nǐ xià cì shénme shíhòu xiūxí, xià xià cì ne?)
Dave: Okay. So to review, we learned three words for a point in time.
Echo: 上次。 (Shàng cì.)
Dave: Last time.
Echo: 下次。 (Xià cì.)
Dave: Next time.
Echo: 这次。 (Zhè cì.)
Dave: This time. And the best way to remember these words is by constantly repeating them.
Echo: Right. And the next way to do that is through our voice recording tool.
Dave: That’s right. The voice recording tool will help you to improve your pronunciation dramatically.
Echo: Right. Record your voice with a click of a button.
Dave: And then play it back just as easily. This will help you improve your pronunciation fast and effectively.
Echo: Right. You can find the voice recording tool in the premium learning center on chineseclass101.com.

Outro

Dave: Okay that wraps it up for this lesson and for season 2.
Echo: Right.
Dave: From Beijing, I am Dave.
Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.)
Dave: And we will see you soon.
Echo: 下次见 (Xià cì jiàn) Bye bye.
Dave: See you next time.

Grammar

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